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Show Chech Winter Driving How much space is needed for a car to stop? Even under the best conditions, con-ditions, a lot more than you might think, according to the space." "The old adage, 'Slow down and Live' is never more true," Barlow said. Utah Safety Council. A dime or even a dollar is hardly har-dly enough. Stopping distance is the sum of reaction and braking distance, and these depend on several variables. Reaction time, for most drivers, is about three quarters quar-ters of a second. In that time a vehicle moving at 30 miles an hour travels 33 feet. At 60 miles an hour it goes twice as far in the same time 66 feet, regardless of the type of vehicle, condition of roadway or state of the weather. Braking distance the distance you go once the brakes are applied. This varies with the speed of the vehicle as well as road conditions, brake conditions, weather conditions and other influences. influen-ces. For a passenger car on level, dry pavement, braking distance from 30 miles an hour ranges generally from 36 to -45 feet; from 60 miles, an hour, that distance shoots up as high as 162 to 202 feet. This means a cars total stopping stop-ping distance from 30 to 69 to 78 feet and from 60 is 229 to 268 feet. These stopping distances come from tests made by the National Safety Council of cars selected at random from the general stream of traffic. Engineers now generally agree that the greatest deceleration forces come when the wheels are almost but not quite locked up and sliding, but practically speaking, its nearly impossible im-possible for most drivers to brake with such precision. That means that the best practically available stopping distances are the result of locking the wheels, but the Utah Safety Council warns that this is usually bad procedure on slippery surfaces. sur-faces. Wheels that are locked up and sliding, on a wet or icy roadway, the Council points out, have no directional stability, that is, they are just as prone to slide sideways as straight ahead. That's why the Utah safety Council advises you to pump the brakes apply, then release them in quick cycles. During the brake-off periods, the car's direction is under better control; the driver and his passengers aren't as likely to be at the mercy of an uncontrolled un-controlled skid. More important than braking distance is the perception per-ception time the length of time before you realize that braking is necessary. It can range all the way from zero to several seconds or even more. Extra alertness offers the only effective way to increase the perception time, explains Leo H. Barlow, Council President. "Don't depend on quick reactions to get you out of trouble," Barlow advises. "You can't reduce that three-quarters three-quarters of a second by enough to be much help." "Instead," he says, "drive in such a way that you don't need every instant of reaction time and every foot of braking distance to avoid an accident, then in an emergency, emergen-cy, most prevalent during the holiday season and 'nter weather, you'll still hve a lifesaving cushion of time and |